


Missing Scene for The Lost City

by LtLJ



Category: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Genre: Episode Related, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-11-04
Updated: 2004-11-04
Packaged: 2017-10-02 18:43:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtLJ/pseuds/LtLJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing Scene for the episode The Lost City</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missing Scene for The Lost City

The cold stone against his cheek revived Iolaus just enough to realize he lay sprawled on a floor. He could smell his own sweat and something else, a sour scent that made his stomach try to turn. _Lotus_, he remembered abruptly. _Don't let them give you the lotus. _ He licked dry lips, suddenly recognizing the sweet taste in his mouth._ Oops, too late._ But he had gone somewhere else, that place inside him he had learned to find, where it didn't matter what anyone did to his body, where the drug simply passed through him with no effect.

Rough hands grabbed him under the arms and lifted his limp body off the floor, and his head dropped back. He couldn't see anything but blurred faces staring down at him, speaking in incomprehensible murmurs. He caught a flash of light behind one form and twitched involuntarily. Oh, he remembered the light. Terror that they were going to put him back in the chair made his heart pound, but then he noticed the sound of their voices seemed to be turning into colors in the air. "Wow," he gasped. _Well, maybe the lotus had a little effect after all_.

He saw one of the indistinct forms nod in satisfaction.

The whole world shifted, the rocky ceiling spiraling away, and he realized he was being dragged. Then the world went black for a while.

***

"Ow," Iolaus murmured, returning reluctantly to consciousness. "Ow, ow, ow." He lifted a hand to his pounding head. He tried to open his eyes but even a glimpse of soft light was enough to make his stomach roil and the colors made his head swim.

He pushed himself up on his elbows, ignoring the increased pounding in his skull, and got his eyes open wide enough to look around. _Huh?_

He lay on a big low couch, covered with silk in watered patterns of blue, red, yellow, every color. The chamber was lit by brass hanging lamps, with a small bubbling fountain in the center and the heavy smell of incense in the air. Pillows and cushions were scattered around the floor as seats, and just rising from them were half a dozen beautiful young women, barely dressed in more of the diaphanous silk. Iolaus realized he was naked, with only a light silk drape tied around his waist as a concession to modesty.

The women were all smiling at him, coming toward the couch, and the way they moved was a little too languorous to be normal. "Who are you?" Iolaus said uncertainly, trying to push himself up. The couch cushions were stuffed with down and seemed to clutch at his abused body; his effort to sit up ended in him flailing and falling back again. He had had dreams that started out this way, but in real life this situation would tend to end with somebody being eaten by lamia.

"Welcome, brother, you are one of us now." A dark-haired, dark-skinned woman sat on the couch beside him, her silk-clad thigh warm against his side. A blond woman drifted to his other side, settled down beside him and stroked his hair.

Iolaus leaned back, still baffled, trying to tear his eyes off the close view of all the breasts in the light silk bodices; it wasn't helping him think. "What do you mean, I'm one of--" Memory struck him like a punch in the gut. Moira, Salmoneus, Regina. Kameros and the chair. Lotus. _I knew this was too good to be true._ He finished earnestly, "One of you. Right. I'm one of you now."

She offered him a winecup and helped him lift his head for a drink. Iolaus tasted it cautiously, but couldn't detect any lotus; he drank gratefully, the cool wine soothing his throat. He couldn't let them know the mind control hadn't worked. Not that they seemed all that interested in questioning him. The blond one cuddled up next to him, supporting his head in her lap. Somebody had taken his hand and was sucking gently and suggestively on his fingers. "I don't remember how I got here," he lied, smiling back at them. "I had a friend with me, named Moira, is she-- Um, hello?" A tall slender woman with dark hair had climbed onto the couch and now was straddling him, pushing the light drape up past his waist. "Uh, I don't know that...." She took a firm hold of him and his concentration scattered.

"This is how we welcome our new brothers and sisters," one of the other women explained. The others had all settled on the edges of the couch, apparently waiting their turns. One of them slipped her bodice off, turning to kiss the woman beside her, and despite a pounding headache and churning stomach, Iolaus was suddenly hard. The dark-haired woman made a pleased noise and shifted to lower herself down atop him.

"Uh huh. Welcome," Iolaus repeated, letting his head fall back as the woman straddling him began to move.

***

Iolaus sprawled facedown across the couch, pretending to be in the same lotus haze as everyone else. But more wine had revived him and the welcoming committee seemed to have decided he had been welcomed enough, and he had finally had a chance to think and plan.

He had noticed people wandering in and out of the chamber, so he had managed to acquire a pair of pants of the flimsy silk and a sash to hold them up and tried to wander out with them, only to find the doors blocked by Kameros' goon squad. He had gotten a couple of invitations to bend over the nearest couch, but had managed to act too lotus-drunk to understand them. Nobody had tried to push the issue, so he hadn't had to expose his deception by getting violent. But it was another sign that he wasn't being treated quite like the other lotus-eaters yet, even though he had been given the array of little gold dots on his forehead. Kameros must want to make sure of him before giving him the run of the place. _If I can't convince Kameros I'm converted or whatever, I'm dead,_ he thought grimly. He had to find Moira, Regina, Aurora, Salmoneus, grab Lorel and get out of here and find help. Or alternately, kill Kameros, wait till all the lotus-eaters sobered up, and then get out of here with the women and whoever else wanted to go.

"Iolaus." Jalia leaned over him, shaking his shoulder.

She was the dark-skinned woman, who seemed to be in charge of the welcoming committee. "Again?" Iolaus asked, startled. He pushed himself up off the couch, blinking up at her. He didn't think he could handle much more welcoming, not right now.

"Kameros wishes to see you," she explained, smiling vacantly, tugging on his arm.

_Oh, here we go_. Iolaus made sure his dopey expression was safely in place, climbing off the couch, just as Kameros strode into the room. He didn't have the damn cane, at least. Kameros strolled toward him, stopping a bare pace away. He looked down at Iolaus with a thin smile. "So, this is the great Hercules' mortal companion."

Iolaus widened his eyes innocently. "Who?"

Kameros lifted his brows, studying him speculatively. "I've often wondered what the famous demigod saw in one small and not very prepossessing mortal."

_Hah! Wouldn't you like to know?_ Iolaus gave him a guileless smile, though his lingering headache made the man's unpleasantly high voice even more nerve-rackingly unpleasant. "I don't remember how I got here, brother."

Kameros smiled, put a hand under his chin and ran his thumb over Iolaus' lower lip. "So you remember nothing of your former life? You've warmed a demigod's bed since the fall of Troy; one would think you would recall that, even with the lotus and the light."

This was a test all right. Iolaus made his smile gently confused. "I don't.... Am I supposed to remember?"

Kameros released his chin but cupped the side of his face, then slid his hand into Iolaus' hair, his fingers rubbing at the base of his skull. Iolaus closed his eyes and leaned into the caress, though his neck and shoulders still hurt from that damn spiky thing they had put on his head and this just made it worse.

"It's a pity you don't." Kameros let go of him and Iolaus overbalanced and stumbled sideways, tripping on the pillows. A big hand caught his arm and hauled him upright; he let out an involuntary yelp and suppressed the urge to break Kameros' jaw. Kameros pulled him close, still keeping a firm hold of his arm, the other hand sliding up his side and absently rubbing his nipple. Iolaus didn't have to fake a gasp. The lingering effect of the lotus made his skin extra sensitive and he discovered the light silk pants made him feel uncomfortably vulnerable as Kameros pushed a knee between his thighs. He turned his face away, letting his hair fall forward to hide his grimace. _Control your temper. Do not punch him in the throat and crush his larynx. Do not use the two-finger technique Master Li taught you to rip his ribcage out. Do not bite anything off. Do not tear his balls off and stuff them in his--_ "One gets bored of malleable children and instant obedience." The hand slid down to his waist, then further down to grip his buttock, pulling Iolaus closer. "There's no fire, no passion. I would like to taste a sample of what kept the son of Zeus so well occupied all this time."

_Get in line, jerk. If I had a dinar for every petty warlord who wanted to nail me because it was close as they'd ever get to nailing Herc, I'd buy a villa in Pyraeus._ But if this went much further, Iolaus was going to need some more wine. A lot more wine. And maybe another shot of lotus. But there had to be another way out of this. _So he's testing you. What would you really do if you were drugged out of your mind?_ He let his head drop back, meeting Kameros' eyes, forcing himself to relax against the bigger man's body. "Tell me what you want."

Kameros studied him intently, the cold eyes belying the sensual smile. "Hmm. Perhaps it worked on you after all. Pity. I would have enjoyed another round." The push caught Iolaus off guard and he stumbled and sat down on the mound of pillows.

"Kameros, the woman is asking for him," one of the guards said from the doorway.

_That has to be Moira,_ Iolaus thought, trying to look as if this news meant nothing to him. _So she's not dead or in that damn chair. That's a start._

Kameros tapped his chin thoughtfully, then smiled down at Iolaus. "Let's go see her, shall we?"

Iolaus smiled back, making sure he wasn't showing too many teeth. "Let's do that."

 

 

 

**end**


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